Introverted Reader

Ten Favorite Places to Read

Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl invited us to share our ten favorite places to read this week. I don't have pictures of all of these places but here goes! The beach. Well, now that I've traveled enough to really understand that not all beaches are warm, let me specify a warm, sunny beach. I love to hear the waves rushing in and out, have a cold drink by my side, and lose myself in a light-hearted book.My hammock. Since we're traveling and renting out our house, I haven't gotten to enjoy this spot in a while, but my big hammock in my shady backyard is a heavenly place to read. And nap, if I'm honest. (That's my hammock a few years ago.)My personal library. I had to put my library furniture and books in storage while we're traveling but my comfy couch, beautiful view of the mountains, favorite artwork, and overflowing bookshelves made a perfect place to read.My camp chair. Since we travel in our RV, I love setting up my camp chair in the shade of the awning and digging in to a good book. (The picture above shows our first travel trailer. We have a bigger, drivable RV now.)My kitchen table. When I'm home alone, I always read while eating a meal. (This is a picture of the table in the furnished apartment we're renting right now.)My car. I used to spend every lunch hour reading in the peace and quiet of my car before I quit my job for this travel life. Also, if my husband runs inside a store for a quick errand, I take the opportunity to wait in the car and read a few pages. (I've included a picture of the car we're borrowing while we're in Alaska. I call it The Matchbox…

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August 16, 2021

Bookish Miscellany

Weekly Update for August 15, 2021

Welcome to my weekly update for August 15, 2021! We've had a rainy week in Anchorage so we haven't ventured out much. We did go to the Alaska Botanical Gardens last Saturday. It was small but beautiful! My husband's cousin and his wife are flying up from San Diego on Thursday to spend a long weekend with us. We were practically locked down with them last winter when California shut down around Christmas. We had a great time together despite the lockdown so we're excited to see them! We've got some big plans! Hopefully the weather cooperates. Botanical Garden Slideshow All images © Jennifer G. at Introverted Reader 2021 General View The cabbage and vine (not sure what it is) are actually planted in the truck bed! My husband was proud of his bumblebee pictures. They sure loved this comfrey! (I think it's comfrey) A pair of magpies made from locally sourced materials. One is white, representing light/day and the other is black, representing dark/night. You can read more about them on The Myth Makers' website. Monkshood, which, along with fireweed, seems to grow everywhere in Alaska. Isn't that a perfect name? Posted: Stormsong (The Kingston Cycle #2) by C. L. Polk--3.5 Stars A Cold Day for Murder (Kate Shugak #1) by Dana Stabenow--3 Stars Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic--4 Stars Ten Secondary Characters Who Deserve More Love Read: I read a lot of novellas and graphic novels last week, so this isn't as many pages as you might think. Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward Whiskey When We’re Dry by John Larison, read by Sophie Amoss The Night Masquerade (Binti #3) by Nnedi Okorafor Arabian Nights (and Days) (Fables #7) by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, et al. All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1) by Martha Wells…

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August 14, 2021

Ada Blackjack by Jennifer Niven: Book Review

4 Stars. I found this book absolutely fascinating. The remarkable thing about Ada's survival is that she knew very little about surviving Arctic conditions. She was raised in the village of Nome. She'd seen some Inuit (the preferred term now) elders hunting and employing traditional skills when she was very young but she [...]

A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow: Book Review

3 Stars. I usually read a couple of books set in whatever state my husband and I are currently in. I'm really enjoying books set in Alaska so I've read more than usual. Add this one to the list. It was a solid, quick mystery that left me guessing. Something about the syntax of the writing did leave me re-reading sentences a few [...]

Stormsong by C. L. Polk: Book Review

3.5 Stars. I read and truly enjoyed Witchmark, the first book in this series, back in 2018 but that was during my blogging/reviewing break. I read this one and couldn't remember much at all about events from the earlier book so I was pretty lost. There weren't many contextual clues to help me fill in the blanks either. I do [...]

Bookish Miscellany

Ten Secondary Characters Who Deserve More Love

Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl invited us to share ten secondary characters who deserve more love. I have a shelf full of books featuring characters I love on GoodReads so this was pretty easy to compile. I used to host a meme called Character Connection on my first turn at book blogging so I'll link to some of those [...]

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August 9, 2021

Bookish Miscellany

Weekly Update for August 8, 2021

Welcome to my weekly update for August 8, 2021! We took it a little easy last weekend but we did visit The Musk Ox Farm and a Reindeer Farm. At The Musk Ox Farm, the oxen are kept in their pastures and we were only allowed to view them from the opposite side of a fence. Their hair is combed and/or shed in the spring and sold as qiviut, "the finest wool in the world." We felt some samples and it is unbelievably soft! And expensive. The Reindeer Farm is more of a petting zoo and they had all kinds of animals. We were allowed to feed and pet the reindeer! They're so soft! And actually smaller than I expected. Their backs weren't even as high as my waist and I'm an average 5'6" (168 cm) tall. They had several spring babies that were absolutely adorable! They also have a couple of moose (rescued as orphans), a bison (who was sulking because she was on a diet), a couple of yaks, a family of elk, and several alpacas, including a baby! Oh my goodness; so much cuteness! Both farms have fun social media pages if that's something you're interested in. Alaskan Animal Slideshow: All images © Jennifer G. at Introverted Reader, 2021 I've included wildlife pictures from my cruise around Kenai Fjords National Park this week as well. Musk Ox Reindeer Yak Sea Otters Dall Sheep Mountain Goat (These are shaggier, have a goatee, and have black horns in comparison to Dall Sheep) Steller Sea Lions Tufted Puffin Black Bear (Taken with a zoom lens from a safe distance. Please don't EVER get close to a bear) Bald Eagle Posted: The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy--3 star review Ten Covers That Made Me Read the Book Read: Stormsong (The Kingston…

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August 7, 2021

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy: Book Review

3 Stars. One of my go-to guilty pleasures for years was The Pink Carnation series by Lauren Willig. I’m really not a romance reader, and they are most definitely romances, but the witty dialog, fantastic characters, Napoleonic setting, and light action/suspense kept me going back for all twelve books. I knew they were influenced [...]

Bookish Miscellany

Ten Covers That Made Me Want to Read the Book

The Top Ten Tuesday prompt this week is "ten covers that made me want to read the book." I have a whole shelf of covers that I love on GoodReads so this was a relatively easy post. The only problem was trying to remember which ones I picked up based solely on the cover, rather than a happy collision of a favorite author and a great artist. Anyway, here are my ten random choices! Gunslinger Girl by Lyndsay Ely--I love this badass young woman, the Western-style font, and the juxtaposition against the "girly" pinkish-purple background. The book was a 3-star, decent read for me but the cover is fantastic! Geekerella by Ashley Poston--It's hard to say whether the title or the cover of this book called to me more strongly but either way, I love everything about it. This fairy tale retelling set at a comic convention still makes me smile when I think of it. Maplecroft by Cherie Priest--I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this cover in another post but it's worth mentioning again. The proper Victorian woman holding a bloody ax assures me that the contents are going to be something different. That's exactly what I got in this horror mashup of Lizzie Borden and Lovecraftian creatures. Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick--I don't think you can tell from this small image, but the feathers at the top of the picture are blood red. I had to know what that was all about. Unfortunately, this was a case of misplaced cover love. I felt the bad boy abused the main character and that was presented as love. No thanks. Forbidden Sea by Sheila A. Nielson--I love the mermaid in the diaphanous dress and tiara, beckoning the reader in to that teal water. I don't remember much about this book but…

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August 2, 2021

Bookish Miscellany

Weekly Update for August 1, 2021

Welcome to my weekly update for August 1, 2021! One of my friends visited us here in Alaska from July 18 - 26 and we were so busy that I missed posting last week. She hasn't been on a real vacation since 2014 so she wanted to make this one count. She sure did! We both love to hike so that's what we [...]

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July 31, 2021